15 years ago

[Jim Wright]

Wow.  15 years came and went here last November, my wife believes it
was November 9, to be exact...

It was early in November of 1990, and the dealers in St. Louis had
just started to get them in, there wasn't even one to test drive, I
believe I test drove a GXE.  I remember the test drive, my wife in
the passenger seat, salesguy in the back seat, and as I turn to take
the on ramp to the highway and mash the pedal to the floor I asked
him what's the fastest he's had one of these up to.  A few moments
later as the speedometer flew past 70 (still going up the on ramp) I
see his white knuckles hanging onto the back of my wife's seat and
hear a weak voiced 'You've passed it' come back as reply.  We flew
down to the next exit and looped back to the showroom.

I was suitably impressed, and we walked into the showroom to talk
business.  It was there that I first saw the SE-R.  The spoiler
caught my eye, then the fatter tires.  I saw the lettering below the
spoiler, SE-R, three letters that would change my life.  The hood was
raised, I took a peek, my wife claims that I began to drool.  The
salesdude slides up, begins saying things about larger rims, bigger
engine, better brakes, other things half heard...  I sit in the
driver's seat, the 150MPH marked on the speedometer seems to float in
mid air, the 105MPH at the end of the GXE's speedometer now a distant
memory.  He's talking again, but they had me at SE-R.

Some time later, we're signing papers.  I managed to get their price
down even though the dealers were only being allocated one per month
of these cars.  There is no black one available in a 300 mile radius,
I'm content to wait.  Years later, or maybe only days, I get the
call, my car is in, and rolling off the truck.  I'm told that this
will be the first SE-R to hit the streets in St. Louis, no other
dealer has sold one yet.

Hundreds of thousands of miles later, I still love my SE-R.  It's not
quite as perky, vibrates a bit, and definitely shows the signs of
having spent too many years in the Texas sun, but it's still plenty
of fun to drive, and the memories of many a road trip still linger
each time I slip behind the wheel.